Roguelikes on a netbook?

[ianpwilliams]

Interesting. All the netbooks on that link seem to be 1024x768 or higher, so I'm guessing they would be ok on that front. They also have a screen size of 12.1" or more - I'm guessing that would be enough. So if processor, RAM, and HD space don't matter too much, I suppose that just leaves software.

I know that Rogue Survivor needs the most recent versions of DirectX and .Net Framework, and Dwarf Fortress needs Windows XP SP 3 (all the netbooks on that link have "XP SP1" or "XP" or "XP Home".

Do you know if these netbooks are able to cope with the latest versions of DirectX and .NET Framework, and Windows XP Service Pack 3?

[akeley]

I doubt it needs "latest" DX version, which is 11.1 or some such and doesn`t even work on XP. I just played it on my DX 9c machine and it works fine.

Netbook already running XP shouldn`t have any problems with SP3 or latest .NET

But, for me at least, the real allure of a "netbook" would be its tiny, near-pocket size, even if the result would be limiting me to particular RLs. These two in that link are called "small laptops" - with a 12.1 screen, so maybe it`s worth researching the dimensions/weight and asking yourself again how you`re gonna use it - if sitting at a desk, maybe its worth buying one with "proper' 14" screen - dunno, the lines between laptop/netbook get blurry at this point.

Also do research battery availability for the model you decide on - some are very expensive, and if it`s a refurb job the battery will go sooner or later. Probably sooner (which is why their warranty does not include batteries).

[ianpwilliams]

Yeah my home PC ran it with DirectX 9c too, so that should be fine. And good to know that they should run SP3 and .NET.

I too want something nice and small portable, because it will be for trips, and possibly playing on my lap. I'm now leaning towards the Dell D410, because it has Win XP Pro, 2Gb RAM (upgraded from 512Mb it seems), and a 1.86GHz processor. And it's only 276mm x 239mm x 33m, and only 2.2kg. And 12.1" screen seems about right to me (1024x768 too).

And Googling batteries, they seem to start at £20. I'm sure they will be 3rd party ones, but hopefully they would be ok.

[Zireael]

I have a 13" notebook which is pretty fine. It's not too heavy, the screen's not too small for me - my eyesight isn't the best (1366x768), you can type and surf the net and pretty much do everything, and it runs RLs and Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights 2.

[ianpwilliams]

I have a 13" notebook which is pretty fine. It's not too heavy, the screen's not too small for me - my eyesight isn't the best (1366x768), you can type and surf the net and pretty much do everything, and it runs RLs and Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights 2.

Can i ask what the make and model is?

[ianpwilliams]

Do you think I should go for better processor (Intel Core Duo 1.2Ghz with 1Gb RAM) or more RAM (Intel Pentium M 1.86Ghz with 2Gb RAM)?

[Zireael]

I have a 13" notebook which is pretty fine. It's not too heavy, the screen's not too small for me - my eyesight isn't the best (1366x768), you can type and surf the net and pretty much do everything, and it runs RLs and Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights 2.

Can i ask what the make and model is?

Sure, happy to help. (crap, I was off by 1", it's 14"). It's a Dell Vostro 3450.
It might be easier to get 3350, which is 13", or 3550 - 15", but I needed a notebook which I could carry to my lessons. The weight is 3,5 kg, so just like a textbook for school. 3550 clocks in at around 5 kg, so it was a bit too heavy for me - I'm disabled and carrying 5 kg is difficult - and 12-13" was a little too small for my eyes to be comfortable.

[ianpwilliams]

That's quite a bit more powerful than the ones I'm looking at actually, so I'm not surprised it runs RL's so well! I have the Baldur's Gate Collection and Icewind Dale collection, but I've never gotten around to playing them, I must do that one day.

[ianpwilliams]

I've been looking at the laptops in my link, in particular the graphics cards, what with processor, memory etc all being similar, and all but one have Intel GMA 900 integrated graphics, which is what you would expect for machines that are meant for business use. Incidentally the one that does have dedicated graphics is the D810, which has a dedicated ATI RADEON X600 128MB chip, and by all accounts can run some great games on really good settings. But the sacrifice is made by the fact that it's much bigger and heavier. Anyway, the poor graphics on the other ones is demonstrated by the performance graphs at this link:

http://www.trustedreviews.com/Dell-Latitude-D430_Laptop_review_performance-graphs_Page-5

But what's confusing is this link where the D430 is reviewed, where it says the following:

"With a score of 348, it is obvious that the D430 will not be playing the latest games. Sure, it will play Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, Final Fantasy VII & VIII, the original Neverwinter Nights, and maybe even the original Halo game. But anything that is not at least a few years old is going to choke this card. Halo is pushing it, as at the lowest settings it is barely playable, so I think I'll stick to Solitaire thank you very much."

Now surely if the D430 can run GTA Vice City and the like, it must be able to handle Rogue Survivor, Dwarf Fortress and the rest of the Roguelikes mustn't it?

[Zireael]

But what's confusing is this link where the D430 is reviewed, where it says the following:

"With a score of 348, it is obvious that the D430 will not be playing the latest games. Sure, it will play Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, Final Fantasy VII & VIII, the original Neverwinter Nights, and maybe even the original Halo game. But anything that is not at least a few years old is going to choke this card. Halo is pushing it, as at the lowest settings it is barely playable, so I think I'll stick to Solitaire thank you very much."

Now surely if the D430 can run GTA Vice City and the like, it must be able to handle Rogue Survivor, Dwarf Fortress and the rest of the Roguelikes mustn't it?

My guess is that the reviewer hasn't heard of roguelikes and his gaming knowledge ends on NWN 1.

[ianpwilliams]

What I was getting at it that the reviewer believes that the D430 will run GTA Vice City, which although it is old game now, it's still a fully-fledged 3D graphical game with large maps etc. So if it can run the likes of that, then surely it should be able to comfortably run all Roguelikes, including Dwarf Fortress (which sounds like it is the most demanding)? I mean, can any Roguelike really be more demanding on the processor/memory/graphics card than GTA VC?

[akeley]

DF is a different beast than Vice City, it`s mostly processor/RAM hungry, not relying on GPU so much. It also depends on the size of the gameworld you create and how much stuff is going on there and this is hard to predict since, well, it is Dwarf Fortress. So no doubt it will run on this laptop, it`s just you might need to experiment with game parameters if you experience slowdown. Which you probably won`t anyway.

My advice is to take a plunge and just decide on one of these machines without agonising too much over minor differences in specs. Otherwise it will drive you mad and might affect future enjoyment of the purchase ("OMG what if I went for that other one..."). Speaking from personal experience 

[ianpwilliams]

Yeah I think you're right, I could agonise over this forever. And it's only so I have a nice little portable machine for Roguelikes, so it's not a big deal really. And I'm sure DF will run with smaller worlds at least.

Thanks for the advice everyone! 

[mushroom patch]

This depends on what kind of travel you're doing. If you'll have internets, then you can play on remote systems, e.g. public nethack and dcss servers, via telnet, ssh, or sometimes a web interface. Not only is this a nice way to have a consistent experience across multiple devices, but playing on public servers is the right thing to do.

[ianpwilliams]

I've come back to this, and I'm now looking at getting the Lenovo x200 or x200s (with 4GB RAM), both of which have 1280 x 800 screen resolution. Presumably that would be enough for displaying most Roguelikes?

Which would just leave the num pad issue. But then I'm sure I could redefine the keys, and if not then I could use a function key to change the arrow keys to diagonal movement, which I actually think could work quite well once I was used to it.